The Metropolitan Opera was streaming in theaters on Saturday Championthe first of two operas composed by jazzman Terence Blanchard, released after the success of Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The results of this production are very positive, for the opera itself in the first place.
Champion had been presented in Montreal in 2019, and it is an understatement to say that we had not been totally convinced by the music, while the show by James Robinson and the structure of the libretto by Michael Christopher had seduced us.
It’s a completely different impression that we got from the experience on Saturday, during the Met broadcast that we were lucky enough to be able to follow in the formula Live at Home hoping that the customers of the Live in HD in the cinema have been spared the vicissitudes that have previously plagued the experiences of Lohengrin and of Falstaff.
Tied up
There was, especially in the first part of the work, a musical force and power totally absent in Montreal. Several explanations for this. The sound presence of the orchestra in the balance, the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the perfect vocal distribution, but also a different score.
For this cover at the Met, Terence Blanchard has completely revised Champion, enlarged the orchestration, added airs; in short benefited from the experience of Fire Shut Up in My Bones and aligned Champion (2013) on his current lyrical aesthetic, forged by experience.
An article from New York Times, released on April 9, revealed that the composer in rehearsal went so far as to retouch tunes to better center them in the register of the protagonists. Terence Blanchard then shared a beautiful memory: “Art Blakey taught me this years ago: “The easiest thing to do is to write something that no one can play”. The magic doesn’t just come from the melody and harmony, but also from the person playing them. »
There, we can say that Champion is tied up: the doped orchestration is in place, the episodes follow one another well, the tunes are there. And this is grafted onto this excellent show by James Robinson in sets by Allen Moyer and projections by Greg Emetaz, seen in Montreal, but energized by the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, inhabited by a more extensive stage space (choirs) , by the choreographies of Camille A. Brown and revived by the costumes of Montana Levi Blanco. Thus adorned, Champion can bet on a place in lyrical posterity.
Died in battle
We will recall that Champion tells the story of Emile Griffith, whose fight in 1962 at Madison Square Garden against Benny “Kid” Paret ended in a fatal coma caused by Griffith against Paret, who at the start of the fight had mocked homosexuality of his opponent. The story of Champion is told through the fluctuating memories of elderly Griffith, suffering from dementia in a Long Island apartment in the early 2000s.
The magic does not only come from the melody and harmony, but also from the person who plays them
Remarkable subject. As we analyzed in 2019: “Who is killing who here? The boxer with his fists? The society that takes Emile’s mother to the streets and forces her to abandon her children? The hatter who diverts Emile from his vocation and pushes him into a ring? THE business boxing that sends Kid Paret to the slaughterhouse? Emile himself, who is consumed by not accepting who he is? »
In the “new” Champion, the orchestra and the orchestration have more importance and impact so that we do not necessarily wait to move from one tune to another. The production of Champion at the Met is carried by an exalted chef in boxer clothes and by an ideal distribution with Eric Owens as the elderly Emile, a radiant Ryan Speedo Green as Champion, dazzling Latonia Moore as a manipulative mother and Eric Greene as Benny “Kid” Paret. Grand luxury, Stephanie Blythe embodies the owner of the gay bar frequented by Émile, while Paul Groves (a Faust of damnation !) takes on manager Howie Albert’s clothes.
A new life begins for Champion.